Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Well that was a lot more fun than I thought!

We had our gathering today for all the Nordic languages (plus Greece). We each did our little introduction. Everyone kept theirs mercifully short, though it was interesting to realize just how much you could understand. For example, I actually did understand some of what those speaking in Finnish were saying. Also, because of my background in German, I understood a good bit of what the Danish and Dutch students said. In fact, the Dutch teacher, when I told her Hebrew had really screwed up my German, said she regularly has to destroy students' German because the languages are so similar.

So remind me not to study Dutch. I would really like to get my German back, minus the Hebrew interference.

There were probably 30 or so of us in the room (including Seth from over at Fabling...Sunny was on a playdate), and each person brought something to eat. I think the idea was that we bring something from the country we were going to, and thankfully our teacher, Kaia, brought something Estonian (a beet and garlic salad that was pretty good!) for us. As for me and my classmates, we brought the finest Harris Teeter had to offer. That seemed to be a trend among the other students as well. But thanks to the instructors, there were some great meatballs (Swedish?) and potatoes (not sure where they came from but my grandfather used to make some just like them).

I brought a little fruit and cheese tray...someone stuck some Finnish flags in my cheese and I had to make those go away. Speaking of which, the Danish teacher told our teacher a story about how in 1249, when the Vikings were in Estonia, the Danish flag came down from Heaven and that was how they knew they would win.

She told me that she told my teacher the story, and I suggested that perhaps Kaia didn't like the story as much as she did!

2 comments:

My how times have changed. Some cherry cheese danish just came down from heaven and that's how I knew I'd conquor the day. And by heaven, I mean Dunkin Donuts, and by danish I mean a multigrain bagel and coffee. Mmmmm. Fun story!

ok you don't know me, but I found your blog through Donna's (FS wife in Amman) weekly rooundup, and you've been amusing me through my google reader for the last day, so... thanks for that. :)

I majored in German in college. As part of my linguistic study, I also did a semester in the Netherlands and tried to learn Dutch (ummmm, fail, kind of). I had the same problems your teacher mentioned. :)

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